Last week, we went back to 2005 to begin our journey in finding the Top 5 craziest Eurovision costumes. Between 2005 and 2008, we had plenty of options, and it could even be labelled as one of the prime periods for crazy attire. This week we wind the clock forward to 2009 through to 2012, and to be fair, we could have filled the entire 5 just in 2009 alone, well, we almost did, but we had to share the love with the other years as well. There are some cracking outfits in part two of our three part series, and although we couldn’t feature all the crazy costumes, make sure to tweet us your favourite crazy costumes!
5. Thea Garrett – My Dream
You might be thinking, why has this made the list of crazy costumes, it seems pretty normal to me? Well you’re right, it’s a nice dress which bellows smoke from behind, which watching back made me think she might have been on fire, literally, not figuratively. Besides the smoke, it really is a regular dress, but then the big reveal happens in the second minute of the song as magically some bird wings appear, and through the last chorus, the bird breaks free and flies graciously around the Eurovision stage. All that make up and costuming for around 30 seconds of the song – seems a little bit wasteful! Probably the best part of this whole bird flying free situation is how well it’s actually hidden, and a first time viewer probably wouldn’t be able to realise there was more to the performance than Thea just belting out her ballad.
4. Zdob şi Zdub – So Lucky
Zdob şi Zdub returned to Eurovision in 2011 after being the first ever Eurovision act from Moldova back in 2005. After scoring 6th place in 2005, pressure was on to improve on that result, or at least replicate it. There were many differences between their songs, staging and costumes. In 2011, the band somehow managed to get hats higher than Jedward’s hair, which is an achievement in itself. The conical shaped hats gave a bit more interest to their song, which didn’t have the grandma-factor this time around. Their eccentricity could also shine through the colourful costuming, between purple pants, green jackets and yellow shirts, nearly every colour of the rainbow was represented on stage. Although this song didn’t do as well as their first attempt, it was just as memorable.
3. Svetlana Loboda – Be My Valentine
This song sends me into a bit of a crisis, and it’s not hard to see why. This song has so many elements to it that you don’t really know where to look. The props are huge and plenty, and then there’s Svetlana in that short red dress, but ironically, on stage, she’s the one dressed the most normal. The male backing dancers are dressed in essentially underwear, a knight hat and silver boots, which makes for an interesting look. The backing singers to the side of the massive hell wheels are up high on stilts or props, which is actually kinda hard to spot with the amount of stuff happening on stage. One second their climbing the hell wheel, next they’re dancing on stage, and next they’re dragging a drum set played by Svetlana. It’s an assault to the emotions – to the ears and the eyes, and of course the costumes play a pivotal role in this assault to the senses.
2. Gypsy.cz – Aven Romale
If you really want to understand just sing it with me la-la-la-la-la! This is prime costuming from Czech Republic. We have the main singer, Super Gypsy in a red one piece, set with shoulder pads, a big collar, a cape and some very fashionable flared pants. Not all heroes wear capes, but Super Gypsy wants to really remind us of his status as the head of the Gypsies. The rest of the characters on stage are wearing different and colourful items, the men in hats, and the female violinist has some crazy afro hair which is awesome. The stage show for this is actually pretty awesome, and if you’ve been following our Top 5 articles, you’ll know that this song is actually one of our faves.
1. Krassimir Avramov – Illusion
It was a tough choice between Gypsy.cz and Krassimir Avramov, however there’s just so much craziness in this song that we had to award it first place. Like Svetlana, this song is an assault to the senses. Yet another cape finds its way into Eurovision, this time with Krassimir reminding us of his recent knighthood. He almost didn’t make it to Eurovision as the princess needed to be urgently saved, however thankfully, viewers of Europe got to listen to this beauty of a song. The backing ‘singers’ or whatever they claim to be are all wearing colourful outfits forming little to no cohesion between any of them, which is a common thread with their vocals. That one backing singer, yeah, you know who I’m talking about, her hair is next level horrid, it’s so big, as if it took about 9 hours of teasing to achieve. The dancers on stilts continue the colourful theme, except the budget wore out and there wasn’t as much material left for them. This is just so Eurovision.